NOMINATE ST MARY'S HOSPICE NOW!

BANK LAUNCHES NEW FUND TO SUPPORT LOCAL COMMUNITIES

NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland ('RBS') today announced details of a new fund to support local charities and projects, and are inviting customers and local people to decide who should benefit from this new community initiative.

Last month NatWest and RBS launched a charter setting out their commitments to customers and what they can expect from the bank(s). As part of the charter, which was based on direct input from 30,000 customers, they have made a commitment to support the local communities they work in.

Customers and members of the local community can nominate a charity or project by visiting their local NatWest or RBS or by logging on to www.natwest.com/communityfund and www.rbs.co.uk/communityfund

Once all the nominations have been received a panel consisting of representatives from the bank, local people and community figures will select three charities/projects from those put forward. The community will then be invited to vote for their favourite of the three, with the most popular receiving a £3,000 grant with the two runners up each receiving £1,000.

Jon Fox, Regional Managing Director for NatWest in the Midlands, said: "NatWest (RBS) has a long and proud history of helping good causes and our Community Fund will bring this support to a new level. By asking local people to nominate and vote for the community charities/projects which are important to them, the fund will be directly supporting the communities the bank serves."

Jon added: "By way of an additional support for the community, the bank has granted our employees a day away from the office to help local good causes. We hope this element of our customer charter will deliver more than 10,000 days of community volunteering in 2010."

Please spare a moment of your time by voting for St Mary's Hospice through each of the following links:
www.natwest.com/communityfund
www.rbs.co.uk/communityfund

Are you willing to jump out of a plane for charity? If so, St Mary's needs you!

Imagine standing at the edge of an open doorway in an aircraft flying at 10,000 feet - the noise of the engines and the wind ringing in your ears with only the outline of distant fields below. Now imagine leaning forward out of that doorway and letting go - falling forward into the clouds, diving down through the air as you start freefalling at over 120mph! Then imagine the peace and quiet as the canopy opens, the steering toggles come down either side of you and you begin a tranquil parachute descent from a mile up in the air, steering yourself back down to the centre of the drop zone below.

So far 19 people have applied to jump for St Mary’s Hospice on Saturday 11th September 2010 to help raise money for the charity in Ulverston, which provides palliative and supportive care for those with life-limiting conditions throughout South Cumbria.

There are, however, still 11 places available and St Mary’s would like to fill them all if possible. Therefore, if you have been considering taking up a skydiving challenge and would like to be involved, please contact Hannah at St Mary’s on 01229 580305 as soon as possible.

Zoe Guest, Fundraising Manager said “We would like to thank all the very brave people who have volunteered to do this so far and are busy raising a significant amount of money to help support our work. If we could find another 11 people who are willing to take the challenge it would be a fantastic help for St Mary’s.”

The programme of jumps will take place at the North West Parachute Centre, Flookburgh.

St Mary's Team takes on The Cumbria Way

This year, St Mary’s Hospice needs to raise £2 million from voluntary contributions to provide all its current services and in the present economic climate this is going to be increasingly difficult. To raise vital funds to support the work of the charity, Dr Helen Clayson, Medical Director and Zoe Guest, Fundraising and Operations Manager will be taking on the challenge of walking the Cumbria Way.

The Cumbria Way is an exhilarating journey through some of the most beautiful and contrasting landscapes that Cumbria offers. Stretching from Carlisle to Ulverston the route offers the challenge of 70+ miles of walking through some of the most scenic and inspiring landscapes in Britain as well as (hopefully! a massive sense of achievement at the end of it. Starting on the 20th August, the team will be splitting the route into 5 stages of approximately 14 miles, finishing back at St Mary’s Hospice on the 24th August.

To sponsor the team you can either telephone the fundraising team at the Hospice on 01229 580305, visit one of the St Mary’s Hospice shops throughout South Cumbria or go to www.justgiving.com/ZoeGuest

Most of the walking is on established paths along valley bottoms with only 3 steep ascents and should be achievable by most fit walkers. Therefore, if anyone would like to join the team in walking one of the stages of the route please contact St Mary’s on 01229 580305.

Day one – Carlisle to Caldbeck - 15 miles
The first day of the Cumbria Way trip starts with gentle rolling farmland and easy tracks. Keeping for the most part to farmland, woodland walks and tracks following the River Caldew from Carlisle.

Day two - Caldbeck to Keswick - 16 miles

Day three - Keswick to Langdale - 15.5 miles

Day four – Langdale to Coniston – 13 miles

Day five - Coniston to Ulverston - 16 miles
Ending at the Cumbria Way marker sculpture in The Gill at Ulverston

St Mary's First Race Night is a Great Success!

Thank you to everyone who helped to make Friday's race night a success. A special thank you must go to Fundraiser Jim Goggin who worked tirelessly to ensure that the evening was a hit with all those who attended and to attract sponsorship. We are pleased to announce that we made a profit from the event of £1084.65 and with match funding, which we managed to get from Barclays Bank plc for £750, we made a grand total of £1834.65. We will be hosting a second race night in the near future - event details will be posted on our website.